Official Stereo Suggestions Thread

[vwwestyman]

[cmayna]

I just picked up a Boss 614UA unit (no cd or dvd) off of Flea Bay. Came with wire harness, mounting sleeve, etc. The old original Blaupunkt is getting retired. Thank you Kamzcab86 for the suggestion.
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'90 Westy / automatic.
If I'm not working on the camper or my '50 Chebbie truck, I'm either fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.


Craig

[gregaz]

UPDATE:

Ended up returning the Best Buy open box stereo I bought on eBay. Really not happy about that whole situation - feel like they were blowing me off ... But a full refund, no questions asked, etc.

Looked for a while on Amazon, and realized that with the Pioneer MVH-X580BS, I was paying for a lot of features I would never use (Spotify integration, Sirius radio, etc). So I bought a Pioneer MVH-X390BT for $77.99 - it does everything I need it to, looks about the same, simple, clean, etc. Sure enough - first thing on top of the box is the harness, just like you guys said.

The wires were similarly colored, so I just replaced them one by one, and the stereo works fine. Only trouble ... is with the new stereo is it painfully obvious that my ancient Blaupunkt speakers are tired and worn out. Story of everything on these, right? Replace one thing - discover that three more need replacing. Anyway, new set of speakers is on the way, should be here today, might even have time to install them.

Thanks again for everyone's input, encouragement, suggestions, etc.

[avernon82]

anyone install a Jensen VX 7012?

https://www.amazon.com/Jensen-VX7012-Navigation-Receiver-Bluetooth/dp/B00WXO1OV0

A Little worried about fitting the wiring.

[dsdunbar]

Pom Fritz - I can't definitively answer your question, but I have a Kenwood KVT-7012BT installed in my vanagon and per crutchfield it states it will not fit:

Selected Stereo:
Depth 6.8125"

Vehicle Depth: 6.2XX"

as such, I can vouch that 6.8125" fit (using crutchfields numbers, I couldnt find a depth for the unit independently)

-dsd

[pomfritz]

Thank you. I saw that units depth on their website and that it would also not fit. That's great. The blaupunkt has what I need to have the rear camera hookup and not a bunch that I don't at a decent price for a name brand touchscreen. Besides it's also from the Vaterland.
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83.5 233K. GW 2.3, SS exhaust, My German Frau named her Stefi

[Vnyd Dog]

[cmayna]

Love the new stereo without a CD player. Remote control,
•Front 3.5mm Aux input for music playback. Connects to any device with a headphone/3.5mm output
•Front USB Port to connect MP3 devices such an iPod, iPhone, etc.
•SD Media card slot for music playback
•1 Sets of 2V preamp outputs

Kamzcab86, I owe you big time.

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'90 Westy / automatic.
If I'm not working on the camper or my '50 Chebbie truck, I'm either fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.


Craig

[Merian]

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_700RSX2/Sony-RSX-2-Hi-Res-Music-System.html
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[gregaz]

[pablum]

Holy simoleons, that's a lotta dough for sound in a vanagon.

Yesterday I got a $5 stereo receiver from craigslist, and it works great!

It even plays CDs:

http://support.jvc.com/consumer/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027124

This justifies the antenna I bought from GW when I got the van (now it's not just a stopleak).
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The wise man learns from history, the fool from experience.
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I see [a cat] in the street and i aim for the pest with my car. -- bluebus86

[Merian]

That Sony is for people who buy special carrier boxes for storage of their junk instead of using cardboard boxes...
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[Forthwithtx]

[Vanagon Nut]

I'm looking at this JVC KD-X33MBS

https://www.amazon.ca/JVC-KD-X33MBS-Single-Bluetoo...+KD-X33MBS

The display looks like it will be more easily seen in bright day light.

Anyone installed this unit? Opinions? Thanks.

Neil.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[bokonon42]

I installed that JVC a few months back. Bluetooth is dead simple to get going and works really well. Sound quality is decent (I am using the stock 4" speakers up front). I installed XM and everything works well. I don't dig the low res display but for the price its hard to complain too much. I just wish it had less BLUE in it. Thankfully its not anywhere near eye level at night so its not annoying really.
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Terry
88 Vanagon Wolfsburg Carat - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=671319

[Vanagon Nut]

thanks bokonon42

I wondered about night driving with stereo on. I see it has separate brightness controls for buttons and display.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[OB Rat]

I have had good luck so far with my fairly simple set up. Well, I guess mostly simple for me since I had pros do the actual work. The shop I used have had a lot of experience with Vanagon installs and that is partly why I chose them, in addition to their solid reputation for excellent work.

The head unit is a Kenwood KDC-X301. It does everything, and more, that I need it to. I'll mention a couple of my favorites - The display is adjustable in several ways, brightness, many colors and different phases so you can make it easy on your eyes at night, yet see it easily in the daytime. It also has an actual USB port which charges your phone, or whatever you plug in. Transmission from your phone to the unit is still mainly via bluetooth, really up to you.

I use an extremely small, yet very capable Kenwood, 5-channel amp which fits in front of my main battery, under the passenger seat, with room to spare.

The amp drives 4 Focal 4" speakers all located in the stock speaker holes. These work excellent for all of your highs and mids. They really are a good quality speaker, especially for their small size.

The amp also powers a 10" sub that I have located under the rear bench seat. It barley fits there, but works great. I personally didn't mind giving up the storage space. Everything I wanted under the seat fit on just one side.

Not too fancy, nor too expensive and very unobtrusive of an install. But the sound is wonderful overall, at any volume.

[Vanlife Geek]

Here is my sound system installed in my 1986 Syncro Westy, if anyone is interested. The Focal speaker components are the bomb and I'm blown away by the sound quality.

The head unit is the Power Acoustik PNX-721 In-Dash 7" Ingenix Series LCD Touchscreen DVD Car Stereo Receiver w/ Bluetooth & USB iPod Control. It also has GPS and a motorized tilt screen. The display is detachable and stores in a nice little case. It's a tight fit but it does fit. It's decent quality, but not top notch. It does have great features and was semi-affordable, relatively speaking. I have a tiny 64GB thumb drive pluged in the lower right side for music & video storage. The screen shows playing MP3's from the thumb drive. It also has an IR remote, which is very handy when listening from the back. I can play movies on my tablet in the rear "lounge" and route the audio via bluetooth through the system. Having the hands free phone function is also a nice bonus.

These speakers are really the heart of the system and really sound amazing. They are the Focal Access 165 A3 6.5-Inch 3-Way Component Speaker Kit. The woofer is mounted low in the door, with the midrange mounted in the standard spot. I did have to remove a very small amount of metal in the door so the woofers would fit. Although these are the "affordable" line of Focal speakers, they were still pricey at $370 and the most expensive single part of my sound system. I am extremely happy with these speakers!

The tweeters from the Focal kit are mounted in the corner of the dash closer to ear level and tilted up slightly towards head level. I was surprised at how nice the separate tweeter components are and it really makes a difference having them mounted higher than the other speakers.

The nice little crossover units fit nicely under the front seats and you can adjust the tweeter frequency to make them more or less "bright".

The amp came with a subwoofer remote which I mounted under the dash just to the right of the steering column. It is handy to be able to make adjustments for different types of music and my mood at the moment.

This is the subwoofer I chose which is installed in the left side of the headbanger cabinet in the rear in a down-firing configuration. The unit is the Rockford Fosgate P2D4-10 Punch P2 DVC 4 Ohm 10-Inch 300 Watts RMS 600 Watts Peak Subwoofer. The dimensions of the left side of the rear cabinet were perfect for this subwoofer, but sealing it up properly has been a challenge. I'm still making tweaks to the cabinet to seal it up a little better. I also need to do something about the under-cabinet surface... looks pretty crappy!

This image shows the Infinity speakers that were already installed when I purchased the van. You can see the subwoofer grill (additional purchase!) below the cabinet.

The previous owner also installed some larger Infinity coax speakers in the rear, but I haven't hooked those up yet.

Here is the amp mounted behind the driver's seat, along with a solar charge controller, 12v rechargeable flashlight, and solar panel plugin. The amplifier is the Precision Power P900.5 900-Watt Phantom Series Class D Full Range 5-Channel Amplifier and seems to be a good all-in-one solution with plenty of power. I thought about going with a 4 channel amp with a separate subwoofer amp, but this seems simpler and works great. It only powers up when the head unit power is on.

Anyway, that's my sound system and I'm very pleased with it so far. This is my third Westy and my third sound system install and it's easily my best effort yet. Road noise doesn't stand a chance with this system!
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Vanlife Geek
Current:
1986 Syncro Westy
Previous:
1983 Westy
1981 Westy
1972 Bug (Last year you could buy a new one for under $2,000)
1965/66 Bug (2 bugs from a junk yard combined to make 1 functional bug)
1959 Bug (Pre Gas Gauge Era)

[Merian]

nice system - I am a fan of Focal speakers BTW



and... bump for 2019
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[Yellow Rabbit]

I installed this tiny Blaupunkt Toronto this weekend. No dash figment problems whatsoever. 😜 it was only $12 on Amazon so I was not expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised. It has Bluetooth, SD slot, 2 usb connections, a remote and it sounds pretty nice. I would have been happy at $100 so for $12 I’m thrilled.